For Survivor Rozzie Brilliant, Ovarian Cancer Was a Family Affair

"All those years, that was my gut feeling. Science finally caught up with me," she says.

Because of what Brilliant learned in genetic counseling, her daughter got tested for the risky gene mutation, too. When the results came back positive, she had preventive surgery to remove her ovaries. But, the surgeon found she already had cancer.

"So my cancer and the fact that I went for genetic counseling saved my daughter’s life," Brilliant says. "She would not be alive today if I had not gone because she had no symptoms."

From Caregiver to Self-Care

Before Brilliant learned she had ovarian cancer, she was her husband's full-time caregiver. He was living with a rare autoimmune disease. But, Brilliant's children feared their mother couldn't take care of herself while she was also taking care of their father.

"My husband was willing to go to a nursing home so they could take care of him and I could take care of me," she says. "It was emotional. It was extremely difficult."

But, Brilliant and her husband made the most of it. She was at the nursing home with him from noon till five, seven days a week. They had lunch together every day. And on Saturday nights, with the help of a driver Brilliant hired, the two continued to go out on date nights with their friends.

"Just like everybody else," she says.

Now, Brilliant has been a cancer survivor for seven and a half years. She is grateful for the genetic information that may prevent other women in her family from dying of the same disease.

"It's my belief and my children's belief that knowledge is power," she says.

 

 

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